Chapter 18
Barcelona
I wake slowly and stretch my arms up over my head to relieve some of the stiffness in my muscles. My eyes feel swollen and gritty and it’s hard to open them. Feeling Elizabeth’s soft warmth beside me, I reach over, wanting to nestle her in my arms and, hopefully, fall back asleep.
My hand touches the skin of her bare legs and she suddenly jolts at my touch, causing pieces of lined notebook paper to fly up in the air and onto the bed and the floor.
“Jesus, Fallon, you scared the mess out of me.”
I squint to see what she’s doing. “What time is it?”
“Past nine, last I checked.”
“How long have you been up?”
“Hours. I got caught up on schoolwork. Yay, me.” She chuckles, and I hear more paper rustling.
“We missed breakfast,” I say and scrub my hands over my face. Tatiana is going to ream me a new one. I roll over to get out of bed but stop when the rich aroma of coffee tickles my nose.
“Tatiana had it brought up,” Elizabeth says when she follows my gaze. “She really thinks we’re friends with benefits now after seeing you in my bed. We have thoroughly confused your sister.”
I shrug, not caring one way or the other. Tatiana knows to butt out of my personal business. “I thought I smelled coffee.” I rub my face and eyes again before opening them fully.
Elizabeth is sitting up against the headboard, one pen in her hand and another behind her ear.
She’s concentrating on a piece of paper in her lap, but she absentmindedly reaches over with her free hand and runs her fingers through my hair.
I don’t think she knows she’s doing it. My eyes almost roll to the back of my head at her touch. Jesus, this girl will be my undoing.
I sit up and rest my back against the headboard in an imitation of how she’s sitting. Our shoulders touch and I give her a slight nudge. “What are you doing?”
Elizabeth bites the end of the pen she’s holding, then scribbles something down. “I got inspired,” she tells me, then scratches out what she wrote.
She’s writing music. A song. I’m instantly intrigued.
But coffee comes first. I get out of bed and walk over to where a rolling cart and tray have been parked in the middle of the room.
I pour myself a cup of the steaming dark liquid and grab a pastry.
There are several sheets of paper scattered over the floor, all of them filled with hand-written musical notes along five-lined staffs.
Elizabeth puts down her pen and looks up at me with concern. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“Exhausted. But I also feel good,” I confess. The smile she gives me almost causes my knees to give out.
She pats the spot on the bed next to her. “Come here, Nutter Butter.”
I grunt at the nickname, but I do as she says and take my place beside her on the bed. Elizabeth grabs the coffee cup from my hand, takes a sip, then passes it back
“Let me know what you think.”
She picks up one sheet of her music and begins to hum while tapping her fingers on my thigh like it’s a piano.
Starving, I scarf down my pastry and sip my coffee as I listen.
Her voice is melodic and it’s a beautiful piece of music.
Elizabeth is very talented. She could pursue a music career if she wanted to or attend Julliard.
My dad could help open the doors for her to do either of those things.
I’ll have to ask her whether she’s interested about it sometime.
“What do you think?” she asks me when she finishes.
“It’s really wonderful, kitten.” She beams that smile at me again and I’m thankful I’m already sitting down because this time my legs really do go to jelly.
“I wrote it for you.” She bites her bottom lip, causing me to zero in on her mouth.
And this is the exact moment when my obsessive fascination with Elizabeth turns into an all-consuming love.
I told her the truth when I said I didn’t believe in true love.
Maybe for others, but not when it comes to me.
This blond-haired, green-eyed girl just made me a liar.
To cover my epiphanic reaction, I choke down the rest of my coffee, not caring that it’s still scalding hot.
Elizabeth gathers and rearranges her sheets of music, stacking the pages together. She places them on the bedside table next to her. “I’ll play it for you properly on the piano later.”
I wrap an arm around her and pull her to my side.
She rests her head on my shoulder and we sit there in silence as an internal battle quietly rages inside me.
As much as I may want her, she’s not mine to have.
But I also know that now I won’t be able to fully let her go.
She’s stuck with me whether she wants to be or not. I can do friends. Maybe. Hopefully
“Knock, knock,” a quiet voice calls from outside the bedroom door as it cracks open. Tatiana pokes her head in. “I thought I heard voices. May I come in?”
Elizabeth waves her inside and pulls me over to make room on the bed for my sister.
“Good morning, dear brother and Elizabeth-who-is-not-his-girlfriend,” Tatiana chirps and kisses me on the cheek.
“Shut it, Tati,” I grouse at my irritating sister, while Elizabeth shakes with mirth beside me
Tatiana rolls her eyes and looks at Elizabeth. “I see he woke up on the wrong side of your bed.”
Elizabeth’s giggles increase until she and Tatiana are howling with laughter at my expense. If it wasn’t such a juvenile thing to do, I would be rolling my eyes at them.
Tatiana wipes the happy wetness from her cheeks and sits down on the end of the bed. “Eduardo will be here within the hour. I thought perhaps you both would like to enjoy the pool for a while before lunch. Then after siesta, we’d like to treat you both to an afternoon in town.”
“That sounds lovely, Tatiana. Thank you,” Elizabeth tells her.
“Fallon knows where everything is. My husband and I will meet you down by the pool later.”
She kisses me once more and gets up. Elizabeth gets up as well and they walk to the door, whispering in each other’s ears like schoolgirls.
My sister may be older, but she still acts like a teenager sometimes.
I watch as Elizabeth blushes at whatever Tatiana tells her, then my sister leaves and closes the door behind her.
“What was that all about?”
“Girl stuff.” Elizabeth does a belly flop onto the bed, propping her chin on her hands and looking at me. “Are we good, Fallon? You were acting a little sad last night.
“We’re good.”
“Good,” she says.
“Yep.”
“Glad that’s settled.”
“Yep,” I repeat.
She grins. “Now, let’s put on our swimsuits and go down to the pool. Have you ever played ‘Blind Man’s Bluff’ before?
“Can’t say that I have.”
“Well, then, Mr. Montgomery, let’s go have some fun and act stupid.”